ARISTOCRATIC ENGLAND
moment; Prince Charles had about 3000 men, mainly High-
landers, and he occupied Edinburgh. The Hanoverian forces,
somewhat less than his own, engaged with the legitimist body
at dawn on September 21 (1745) on the level of Prestonpans,
east of Edinburgh. The Highlanders charged and rolled up the
forces of the German King of England, capturing his treasure
and six of his guns. Prince Charles then delayed more than a
month, during which he received assurances of support from
France and from England, but when he marched down south-
ward for the border he had not more than 10,000 men (half of
them mounted) and thirteen guns. Of this force he lost some
daily by desertion—he had lost perhaps one-fifth by the time
he entered Carlisle, in the middle of November—and meanwhile
the Hanoverian forces were gathering in front and to the side
of him. Cumberland had returned from France to undertake
the campaign. The Hanoverian forces now available were
already superior in numbers to the invaders, while reinforce-
ments were marching to join Cumberland from Yorkshire. The
Prince got as far as Derby on December 4, but the position was
impossible unless there should be a rising in his favour, and of
this there was no sign. It is often said that a bold march on
London by Prince Charles would have succeeded. It is doubtful.
The people were apathetic. The Hanoverian dynasty was not
popular, but it had behind it all the organized forces of the
country, and was identified with the money power of the City,
especially the Bank of England, and the security of most of the
landowners.
A retreat was ordered, the border was recrossed within three
weeks, but the Prince found certain reinforcements when he
reached Scotland, notably a few hundred regulars from France,
and he was able to lay siege to Stirling in the first days of the
next year, 1746, though he was not in sufficient strength to meet
Cumberland, who had reached Edinburgh before the end of
January. Prince Charles therefore made for the Highlands.
The clash between him and Cumberland came at Culloden, near
Inverness, where the last charge of the Highland clans failed on
April 16. Prince Charles escaped with his life after a long series
of perilous adventures, and the Stuart cause had perished.
The effects of this rising and its defeat were considerable.
Till that moment there had lingered a strong Stuart tradi-
tion even in England, and, of course, a much stronger one in
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